SURVEY: AI Adoption Creates Widening Performance Gap in Services Sector

The big picture: The "2025 Global Service Dynamics Report," based on a survey of over 1,000 global services leaders by Dimensional Research, paints a picture of an industry undergoing rapid transformation.

• An overwhelming 83% of firms are already using or plan to use Agentic AI with their Professional Services Automation (PSA) software within the next 12 months.
• Economic change (54%) and the pace of AI innovation (52%) are cited as the top external pressures by services leaders.
• Reflecting tighter financial conditions, 66% of companies now view their PSO as a profit center, an increase of 3 percentage points from 2024. The segment of firms aiming for elite 40%+ margins is expected to more than double in 2025.

Zoom in: The report details specific challenges and differentiators in AI adoption and operational strategy.

• The primary obstacles to widespread AI adoption are a lack of internal AI skills (35%) and navigating compliance issues (35%).
• A significant "say-do" gap in collaboration persists: while leaders acknowledge that aligning sales, delivery, and customer success improves margins (61%) and customer retention (59%), only 36% of PS teams proactively collaborate across these functions.
• High-profit PSOs invest differently in technology. They are 30% more likely to use PSA software for core functions like project management (52% vs. 40%) compared to less profitable peers who often rely on disconnected tools.
• To address challenges, top-performing PSOs are focusing on hiring AI talent (53%), developing proprietary AI solutions (53%), and utilizing commercial software with AI capabilities (49%).

What they're saying:

• "The data also clearly indicates that a significant profitability gap is emerging between firms that have the foundational data and systems in place and those that are simply chasing the technology," said David Gehringer, Principal at Dimensional Research.
• Raju Malhotra, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Certinia, stated, "This disruption will favor organizations built on a strong data foundation that provides a unified, real-time view to empower the emerging human-agent and agent-to-agent collaboration models."
• Alice Steinglass, EVP and GM, Salesforce Platform at Salesforce, commented, "The key is a unified AI-powered customer platform. When every service team draws from one connected customer view...AI can deliver its most transformative end-to-end service experiences."

Between the lines: The report suggests that for services firms, achieving financial resilience and competitive advantage in an AI-driven market requires a fundamental focus on operational visibility and a unified approach to the entire customer journey, enabled by integrated technology platforms.